Box Office: No Turkeys at the Box Office, Unless You Count Gonzo.

...but he's less a bird than bird-like. It was a genuinely happy Thanksgiving chez moi (so much fun and good food) and I hope it was for you, too. Did you hit the movie theater? Most of the newbies and the holdovers did solid business despite abundant competition.

Kings and Queens of the Thanksgiving box office

Box Office (U.S.) Baker's Dozen -Estimates

01 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 $42 (cum $221.3)
02 THE MUPPETS new $29.5 (cum $42)
03 HAPPY FEET TWO $13.4 (cum. $43.7)
04 ARTHUR CHRISTMAS new $17
05 HUGO new $11.3 [Scorsese & Team] (cum $15.3)
06 JACK AND JILL $10.3 (cum. $57.4) 
07 THE IMMORTALS $8.8 (cum. $68.6) 
08 PUSS IN BOOTS $7.4 (cum. $135.3)
09 TOWER HEIST $7.3 (cum. $65.3)
10 THE DESCENDANTS $7.2 [Michael's review] (cum. $10.7)
11 J EDGAR  $4.9 [Nathaniel's review] (cum $28.8)
12 MY WEEK WITH MARILYN new $1.7 [Nathaniel's review] (cum. $2.0)
13 A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS $1.6 (cum. $31.6)

Talking Points
• The Artist (review) and A Dangerous Method (review) both opened in very limited release on the coasts to strong per theater response, each earning almost a quarter of a million in their first weekend. Both are undoubtedly hoping for year end kudos to boost interest as they expand. The Artist in particular will be an interesting case because  

• Martha Marcy May Marlene (review) and The Skin I Live In, two of the year's most provocative films, acquitted themselves well but are sadly already fading after $2 ½ million.. so they didn't quite cross over in a larger way.

•  Arthur Christmas suffered the most from the glut of family film programming but it didn't have the name brand of Scorsese or The Muppets to push it through. Next weekend should tell us more about how it will fare word-of-mouth wise.

Pepe for President!

Craig here with a small post for one of the smallest Muppets: the most appetising member of the crew, Pepe the KING Prawn. (Don’t call him a shrimp.)

Pepe (short for Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales) is one of the next, or later, generation Muppets. Obviously he doesn’t carry the cultural cache of Kermit and co., yet, but he’s eked out a place of singular significance for himself with fans of entertainment and seafood alike. He’s not called a Crustacean Casanova for nothing. He stands out from the crowd of other ‘Muppens’ and is living, swimming proof that four arms are better than two. His story is a true classic decapods to riches tale.

His behind-the-scenes work on film and TV makes him the most hard-working, the most alive-to-the-possibilities-of-the-business, Muppet there is. He’s a prolific profiler and an interviewer extraordinaire, one to test the resolve of any leading chat show host either side of the Atlantic (a place he’s quite familiar with). He’s an all-round auteur in my book. As an accomplished actor he’s a safe bet for a future Oscar win (For Your Consideration Best Supporting Actor 2012: Pepe as Pepe in The Muppets), but as an entrepreneurial entity he’s matchless. He interviewed Jodie Foster for Flightplan (which was miles better than actually watching Flightplan), shook his “bon bons” at Ricky Martin and has extensively worked the behind the scenes on The Muppets’ movies, producing riveting on-set insights next to none. Tireless, he is; talentless, he’s most certainly not. All that and he’s fathered 1,500 children. He’s busy and he’s happy, okay?

In a piece of radical casting perfection, Pepe was the first non-dog to star as Toto in The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. This was my introduction to him. He gave the film’s best performance – he certainly out-acted Queen Latifah and Quentin Tarantino in the film – stealing the thunder right from under Kermit’s, Fozzie’s, the wizard’s and even Miss Piggy’s noses. Any sea creature who has the tenacity to confidently say, "Si, I'm so gosh darn sexy, it hurts," is worth a million. He’s quick-fire, he’s crazy, he’s capable of anything. I can’t wait to see him in The Muppets, okay? After that, it's certainly Pepe for President!

Mr. Bimbo and all the Minor Muppet Magic

Robert here. The universe of the Muppets has always overwhelmed me. The idea of naming a favorite character or film eludes me as I love so many of them. The bigness of the Muppet world seems to great to pick any one item and place it above the rest. Yet one of the small things I think of and come back to again and again, when discussing why I love the Muppets is in fact very minor element from a film that's not very good (though my wife would argue vehemently that no combination of Muppets, pirates and Tim Curry could ever be bad).

 

Meet Mr. Bimbo.

 

Mr. Bimbo is the little man who lives in the index finger of Fozzie Bear's left hand. This is, of course, Fozzie Bear starring as the character Squire Trelawny in Muppet Treasure Island, a concept that didn't always work for the Muppets, in a film that works even less. But I love Mr. Bimbo. I think it's because Mr. Bimbo epitomizes all that is innocent and pure and completely anarchaically ludicrous about the Muppets. It's a gag that requires not so much complexity as devotion and Fozzie is up to the task. And it's a sign that in every Muppet movie, regardless of quailty, there's something redeeming. Whenever someone mentions Muppet Treasure Island (it happens more than you'd expect) I don't think of how the film was a disappointment, or a sign that the Muppets were running on empty. I think of Mr. Bimbo.

 

What's your favorite small thing in a Muppet movie? Perhaps it's a minor character or a line reading or something else entirely.

The Pig Wears Prada

The Pig Wears Prada... and probably has a huge dry cleaning billThree quick things this morning.

1) Guess who feels like a little piggy after Thanksgiving? I was doing okay until divvying up leftovers for guests and kept finding errant pieces of pie that just couldn't fit into tupperware that had to be eaten right then and there. By me. Couldn't let the whip cream go bad either.

poll by twiigs.com

2) Did anyone watch "A Very Gaga Thankgiving"?  Her voice sounded tremendous and the costumes were restrained elegant weirdness instead of standard not-ready-to-wear weirdness (points for mixing it up) but otherwise blech. Every song became a ballad (not every song should be a ballad) and almost no verse could be sung through without multiple stops for self-regarding monologues. The show felt like it lasted 3 hours and Gaga was jumping all kinds of sharks named Self-Seriousness and Absence of Perspective. Let us get this straight Gaga, you felt bullied at school because you a) had to sit at a table that wasn't the cool table off to side with your friends (ewww. who would ever want to eat with their friends?! Gross) and b) because people ridiculed your hair for being too beautiful? Unnhhnh.... 

3) For my weekly column @ Towleroad I've listed 10 great things about this particular Thanksgiving weekend and your movie options at home or at the multiplex. The Muppets got a general spot but after the fact I wished I'd mentioned that Miss Piggy looks hot in Prada but Emily Blunt's cameo only made me wish she'd find another role as worthy of her comic talents as the one she had in The Devil Wears Prada. 

Now it is time to eat breakfast. Breakfast called "Pie".

Happy Turkey (and Muppets) Day

Marilyn Monroe and TurkeyWe've been watching the Macy's Parade while cleaning / cooking and there has literally yet to be a musical number from Broadway that's NOT movie-based as I type this. Should've live-blogged and talked Sister Act, Spider-Man, Priscilla, How To Succeed, Newsies and more... Broadway is basically movies on stage now, with a special emphasis on 1990s comedies.

Meanwhile at the multiplex, it won't just be turkeys slaughtered for today's festivities. In Hollywood's infinite wisdom, three showbiz-centric movies for adults must open simultaneously (The Artist, My Week With Marilyn, Hugo) and three movies children might like (Hugo, The Muppets, Arthur Christmas ...two of which are obviously for adults) must open in direct competition as well. There probably won't be enough dollars to go around which is sad because the same ticket buyer might well like all of those movies. On balance, this is an absurdly high quality crop, not one, well, turkey in the batch [Disclaimer: Arthur Christmas is the only one I haven't seen but I hear good things.] 

If all five of those newly released options weren't enough, Oscar maniacs can also sample The Descendants (expanding) and, in NY & LA, A Dangerous Method and Rampart. In case you haven't been keeping up and since we're hosting a big dinner, here are past thoughts...

THE ARTIST ~ review | all posts | best pic race | interviews soon
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN review | more Marilyn on the way
HUGO  ~ the filmmakers speak | work in progress thoughts |  all 
A DANGEROUS METHOD ~ several reviews from our team
RAMPART - all posts | best actor race 

As for THE MUPPETS... I didn't have time to review the new film before guests started arriving but I'd love to hear your thoughts. I found it quite uneven even within both of the narratives. The Muppet reunion brand relaunch is what I came to see and the nostalgia factor there worked like a charm. But individual scenes didn't always sparkle and I wanted more funny performances and less story beats. Meanwhile the musical comedy factor seemed to fall mostly to the Jason Segel / Amy Adams / "Walter" coming-of-age storyline which I liked much more than I was expecting to -- great sight gags in the beginning and Amy Adams could not be a better fit for the Muppet world -- until I didn't. By the time the three of them met The Muppets I was over it because... THE MUPPETS; stop distracting me from them! So my reaction was all over the place and far more colored by my own childhood fixations rather than the movie itself. But if you grew up loving The Muppets it's a total must-see. I recently rented the DVDs of the original series and it is crazy enjoyable -- like giddy-smile making -- just as we all remember. In fact, after watching three episodes back to back I think TV needs a relaunch of The Muppet Show more than the movies need the muppets. Variety shows are sort of back given the plethora of performance competitions but the variety has gone out of them as they are the same thing over and over again, whether that's contemporary pop karaoke or dancing.

One of the new songs "Life's a Happy Song" (Bret McKenzie --yay!) is a total charmer and should give the felt fuzzy group their fourth music-related Oscar nomination (the first three films all won one nomination in Song or Score categories.)

Do your Thanksgiving plans include movies? Have you seen The Muppets yet?